Stone mason accused of storing guns and ammo to be released from custody
A stone mason accused of storing guns and ammunition at his north Belfast home is to be released from custody, the High Court today.
Graham Watt, 36, was detained after two firearms were seized from the house in Mount Vernon Park earlier this year.
Police also found quantities of suspected crystal meth at the property he shared with a former Vietnamese girlfriend during a “whirlwind romance”, a judge was told.
Watt was granted bail but ordered to keep out of the Mount Vernon estate.
He denies two charges of possessing a firearm along with 65 rounds of ammunition in suspicious circumstances.
The court heard multiple deal bags of suspected crystal meth were located in a make-up bag on the bedroom floor during the raid on May 21.
A box stored under the mattress contained a .22 handgun loaded with ten bullets, along with a further 54 rounds of ammunition.
Officers arrested a woman at the scene and detained Watt when he returned to the property later that day.
Prosecutors said he had a single live round of ammunition and a small bag of cannabis in his pockets.
During a further search of the house police discovered another handgun sitting on top of the bed.
The woman remains on police bail pending further investigations into the seizures.
A Crown lawyer told the court she is being treated as a potential “accessory” who only stayed at the defendant’s property on a temporary basis.
But counsel for Watt, Karl McGuckin, insisted the pair were living together as a couple at the time.
“It was a bit of a whirlwind romance… she is Vietnamese and she had many associates,” the barrister submitted.
Mr McGuckin disputed the prosecution portrayal of the ex-couple’s roles in the alleged offending.
“He (Watt) entirely denies any suggestion that he was involved in drug dealing or criminal gangs,” counsel stressed.
“There is no evidence, save for the hypothesis that he is the male and deemed to be the main man while she’s the accessory.”
Watt was described as a drug addict who only knew about any substances that were for his personal use.
Mr McGuckin revealed the defendant is a builder who specialises in stone masonry work.
Based on the offer of a £2,000 cash surety and employment in his brother's business, Ms Justice Smyth agreed to grant bail.
“It is the family support that has made the difference,” she said.
Ordering him to seek help for his drug addiction and to live under curfew at an alternative address, the judge further directed: “You are not to enter the Mount Vernon area of Belfast.”